By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
FARMERSVILLE — Wright’s Farm on Laidlaw Road in Farmersville has been producing maple syrup in Cattaraugus County since 1840.
It is likely the farm has continually produced maple products for sale longer than any family farm in the county.
Brothers Bob and Rick Wright have worked the sugar bush since they were old enough to carry firewood and lift sap buckets for their late father Leon Wright, who was a pioneering legend in the Western New York maple industry — including his early use of tubing to collect sap.
Bob’s son Matt, 27, and Rick’s daughter Sara, 24, have taken an interest in the family’s maple business, and look to take it over as their fathers, both in their early sixties, take a step back in the coming years.
“It’s good to see they are interested in making syrup,” Bob said on Saturday, the first day of two Maple Weekends. “We got rid of the dairy cows last fall,” Bob said. His brother Rick managed that end of the farm. Now they are raising beef cattle and continuing to make maple syrup.
They’ve got about 7,900 taps on vacuum systems that carry sap via miles of tubing to the sugar house or two other collection tanks.
About 2,400 taps connect directly to the collection tank at the sugar house, while sap in the other collection tanks must be transported to the sugar house.
“We had a slow start this year,” Bob said. “We’ve made about 500 gallons so far.” In a good year, they will make twice that. The sap started running Feb. 28 and the first syrup was made on March 1. They’ve had five or six good runs so far, but recent warmer weather threatened to cut the season short.
“We need that freeze-thaw action to bring the sap up into the tree,” Bob said. The best weather for the sap to run “is nights in the 20s and days in the 40s.”
The sap goes through a reverse osmosis machine to remove much of the water prior to boiling it in the 6-foot by 16-foot evaporator that fills the sugarhouse with the smell of boiling sap and smoke. The water removed by reverse osmosis is used for cleaning.
The farm’s woodlot management practices provide the wood used to fire the evaporator.”It’s more labor intensive, but cheaper than buying fuel oil,” Bob said. Plus, it smells better.
“It has a real good taste this year,” Bob said. “The sugar content is low,” which means it takes more sap to boil down to make the syrup. The run started out producing amber syrup, went to dark, then lighter again for the amber. As the season progresses, the syrup may go back to darker.
Besides selling maple syrup in quart, half gallon and gallon containers and other maple products at the sugar house, the Wrights sell on the internet at www.wrightfarmsmaplesyrup.com, and at the annual Western New York Maple Festival in Franklinville April 26 and 27.
“We provide all the syrup at the pancake breakfast and sell it at a booth at the Maple Festival,” Bob said.
“It looks like we’ll keep the maple syrup tradition going” Rick said looking at his daughter Sara and nephew Matt, and “We’ve been good stewards of the land.”
Besides Wright’s Farms at 9166 Laidlaw Road, Franklinville, four other Cattaraugus County maple producers are participating in the 2025 Maple Weekends. They are:
- Sprague’s Maple Farms and Restaurant, 1048 Portville-Obi Road, Portville.
- Moore’s Maple Shack and Pancake House, 10444 Galen Hill Road, Freedom.
- Durow Farms Maple Products, 11350 Archer Hill Road, Randolph.
- Ulinger’s Maple Farm, 8835 Crumb Hill Road, East Otto.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
